LOL! It's a Turkey Special w/ 26" barrels. It is kinda loud, but hey, it's a 10 gauge, it's supposed to be loud. One morning this past season my wife was at home (half a mile from the river). She asked if I shot twice around 09:30. That was about right. She said she was in the house w/ the doors & windows closed. She said it was so loud she jumped. Imagine how loud it would've been if I hadn't been aiming away from the house.

I've never been in a blind. I either shoot from the canoe, or hang out on an island under the trees. Sometimes I just stand on a rock in the river. Geese don't seem to mind very much.

I hunt with old guns and primarily old SXS shotguns. I only get about three weeks to hunt upland game and waterfowl every year. When I go out I am going to hunt with the guns I enjoy. Most of them are SxS's. I do shoot one autoloader, a 1952 Browning Sweet 16 and one pump, an old Ithaca 37 20 gauge that belonged to my dad. I like them for decoying small ponds and jump shooting but most of the time I shoot a 1902 Ithaca Lewis 10 gauge 2 7/8". I load ITX 5's for ducks and 2's for geese. This year I'm going to try some of the factory non-toxic loads in all of them. I may even have another old double 12 and possibly an older 10 gauge 3 1/2 inch by then and will take them along as well. I love to put the old ones back to work. I harbor no animosity toward the unwashed crowd shooting uncivilized jamamatics. We're all out there to enjoy ourselves.

bought an older 2nd hand Baikal that has been chopped removing chokes...awesome duck gun...my 13 yr old son in first year using the .12ga has doubled twice so far with it..my first three shots from it in anger took a pukeko (swamp hen) canadian goose and a mallard. get withing 35 yards and lookout birds you in big trouble.only trouble is I like it that much that my pump action has been getting left in cupboard

You must miss that second shot 9 out of ten times because they are up off the water and flying after the first shot. That is about the only reason I can think of for someone being such a bad shot on their second shell. But on the bright side you can likely hit 3 or 4 out of 10 on the water.....Only other thing I can think of is your gun may have a pattern like a doughnut.

surfrat wrote:You must miss that second shot 9 out of ten times because they are up off the water and flying after the first shot. That is about the only reason I can think of for someone being such a bad shot on their second shell. But on the bright side you can likely hit 3 or 4 out of 10 on the water.....Only other thing I can think of is your gun may have a pattern like a doughnut.

I have to disagree when a fella is using a single barrel break open gun you KNOW you HAVE to make shot count or miss out on a kill, if there is one or more shots just waiting for you the first one can and often is rushed, followed by a quick "oh shite I missed" jerked trigger second...or in the case of B gun users sometimes a mag full sprayed and prayed .I shoot best with my pump if I take it one shot at a time. the SxS drops bird with first barrel and then second can move onto another bird...miss with the first and its a whole other ball game

If you can't get off a clean second or sometimes a third shot at a flock of ducks or geese landing in decoys right in front of you then you really should get out and pratice shooting more. All kidding aside. I grew up Quail hunting so multiple shots are the normal for me. If you could not kill two or sometimes three on a covey rise you were not considered a very good shot. Same with the guys I Duck hunt with. When a pair comes in hard usually only one guy shoots. Sometimes that third shell is truly needed to finish a bird. I do hunt from time to time with an O/U but the truth is that an auto is a far superior waterfoul gun if the right guy is shooting it.

I don't agree that you can judge a person by the gun they choose. For instance I shoot all semis for everything. I shoot a Winchester SX3 for waterfowl, Benelli Montefeltro for Upland, and a Remington 1100 for trap. There are a few reasons for why I chose these guns for each reason. The sx3 because its a shorter gun which is nice with heavy coating, gas semi for light recoil for heavy magnums, and because of that soft recoil I CAN get off at least one more ACCURATE follow up shot if not two. The Montefeltro I bought because 1. it is a beautiful gun, 2. if is really light which is nice for upland, 3. it is a semi which is nice when the pheasants are really flushing in pairs ( like where I hunt on my property since we bud up to a game farm there always in pairs.) and I can get off ACCURATE pairs (Pheasants aren't that fast). The 1100 actually I didn't buy but my dad did back in the 70's. I used it in one of my shoots ( I used to use the benelli) and I shot so good with it I shot 82 straight and 98 out of 100 and well my coaches for the high school league said use that. Now this gun doesn't cycle the light trap loads so it really is like a single shot but my dad used it for pheasant and duck before the lead ban and had great success. Also my dad and I use it for deer with his slug barrel. IMHO I don't think you can judge a "Hunter" buy using a old wood single and then call someone a "Killer" if they have a synthetic semi. I think the key to sucssesfull HUNTER not KILLER is to shoot your gun, know your gun, and trust your gun. This WILL make you a much better HUNTER. I could almost guarantee you that if you handed me your most exspensive SXS I wouldn't hit crap compared to my benelli or sx3 because of just how much I know my guns and have them fited for ME. Once again its whatever YOU can shoot the best and know the best. ONE type of gun CANNOT determine whether or not a person is a HUNTER or a KILLER.

agreed and very well put.what I was trying to say (obviously unsuccessfully) is a fella using a single will take care to get sight picture right. you have given a great example of "gun fit" which is another VERY VERY important thing for shotgunning. a man with a great fitting single or double will out shoot a fella with a poor fitting gun whatever its price or magazine capacity.the Bakail we bought just fits me spot on..comes up like a wet dream...happy hunting

I shoot nothing but gas autos autos at ducks and have for 30 years. Big doubles are heavy and akward to carry and in a blind. Shoot what you like it's a free country, but what you shoot doesnt have a damn thing to do with what kind of waterfowl hunter you are. What a crock!

Most of my high school years were spent hunting with an 870. The availability of the 3rd shot usually caused me to use it, more often than not unsuccessfully. When I switched over to the O/U I fount my hit ratio increased. I basically slowed down my shooting. Now I could do that with a pump but that would likely mean in most cases I wouldn't get the third shot off or it would be beyond my prefered range, resulting in a wasted shot anyway. Unless it is the only bird in the air my second shot is never used for a cripple anyway cause they are usually on the ground/water before I can get back on them and that gives me plenty of time to reload. As long as bird numbers are decent it is rare that I would need a third shot. As a matter of fact I generally manage as many extra birds via doubles as I would get with a 3rd shot anyway. Besides I like to be in the field. Filling my limit in 20 minutes is not my cup of tea.

Last time I used my pump I kept getting frustrated when it didn't go off on the second pull of the trigger.................keep forgetting to pump it.

While recoil reduction can be an advantage with semi autos even after putting 30-40 waterfowl loads through my O/U I barely notice it.

I get a kick out of keeping shot counts when watching waterfowl hunts on TV. My informal survey indicates an average of 10 shots fired per volley, by 3-5 hunters with an average of 3 birds harvested. Based on those stats the 3rd shot is either not being used or not being successful.